The Tragedy of Timon of Athens

Flavius. No care, no stop! so senseless of expense,
That he will neither know how to maintain it,
Nor cease his flow of riot: takes no account
670How things go from him, nor resumes no care
Of what is to continue: never mind
Was to be so unwise, to be so kind.
What shall be done? he will not hear, till feel:
I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting.
675Fie, fie, fie, fie!

Caphis. Please it your lordship, he hath put me off
To the succession of new days this month:
My master is awaked by great occasion
695To call upon his own, and humbly prays you
That with your other noble parts you'll suit
In giving him his right.

Timon. Mine honest friend,
I prithee, but repair to me next morning.
700

Fool. I think no usurer but has a fool to his servant: my
780mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come
to borrow of your masters, they approach sadly, and
go away merry; but they enter my mistress' house
merrily, and go away sadly: the reason of this?

Apemantus. Do it then, that we may account thee a whoremaster
and a knave; which not-withstanding, thou shalt be
no less esteemed.

Fool. A fool in good clothes, and something like thee.
790'Tis a spirit: sometime't appears like a lord;
sometime like a lawyer; sometime like a philosopher,
with two stones moe than's artificial one: he is
very often like a knight; and, generally, in all
shapes that man goes up and down in from fourscore
795to thirteen, this spirit walks in.

Fool. Nor thou altogether a wise man: as much foolery as
I have, so much wit thou lackest.

Timon. Go to:
815Perchance some single vantages you took.
When my indisposition put you back:
And that unaptness made your minister,
Thus to excuse yourself.

Flavius. O my good lord,
820At many times I brought in my accounts,
Laid them before you; you would throw them off,
And say, you found them in mine honesty.
When, for some trifling present, you have bid me
Return so much, I have shook my head and wept;
825Yea, 'gainst the authority of manners, pray'd you
To hold your hand more close: I did endure
Not seldom, nor no slight cheques, when I have
Prompted you in the ebb of your estate
And your great flow of debts. My loved lord,
830Though you hear now, too late—yet now's a time—
The greatest of your having lacks a half
To pay your present debts.

Flavius. 'Tis all engaged, some forfeited and gone;
835And what remains will hardly stop the mouth
Of present dues: the future comes apace:
What shall defend the interim? and at length
How goes our reckoning?

Flavius. If you suspect my husbandry or falsehood,
845Call me before the exactest auditors
And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me,
When all our offices have been oppress'd
With riotous feeders, when our vaults have wept
With drunken spilth of wine, when every room
850Hath blazed with lights and bray'd with minstrelsy,
I have retired me to a wasteful cock,
And set mine eyes at flow.

Flavius. Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord!
855How many prodigal bits have slaves and peasants
This night englutted! Who is not Timon's?
What heart, head, sword, force, means, but is
Lord Timon's?
Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon!
860Ah, when the means are gone that buy this praise,
The breath is gone whereof this praise is made:
Feast-won, fast-lost; one cloud of winter showers,
These flies are couch'd.

Timon. Come, sermon me no further:
865No villanous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart;
Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.
Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience lack,
To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart;
If I would broach the vessels of my love,
870And try the argument of hearts by borrowing,
Men and men's fortunes could I frankly use
As I can bid thee speak.

Timon. And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd,
875That I account them blessings; for by these
Shall I try friends: you shall perceive how you
Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends.
Within there! Flaminius! Servilius!

Timon. I will dispatch you severally; you to Lord Lucius;
to Lord Lucullus you: I hunted with his honour
to-day: you, to Sempronius: commend me to their
loves, and, I am proud, say, that my occasions have
885found time to use 'em toward a supply of money: let
the request be fifty talents.

Flavius. They answer, in a joint and corporate voice,
900That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot
Do what they would; are sorry—you are honourable,—
But yet they could have wish'd—they know not—
Something hath been amiss—a noble nature
May catch a wrench—would all were well—'tis pity;—
905And so, intending other serious matters,
After distasteful looks and these hard fractions,
With certain half-caps and cold-moving nods
They froze me into silence.

Timon. You gods, reward them!
910Prithee, man, look cheerly. These old fellows
Have their ingratitude in them hereditary:
Their blood is caked, 'tis cold, it seldom flows;
'Tis lack of kindly warmth they are not kind;
And nature, as it grows again toward earth,
915Is fashion'd for the journey, dull and heavy.
[To a Servant]Go to Ventidius.
[To FLAVIUS]Prithee, be not sad,
920Thou art true and honest; ingeniously I speak.
No blame belongs to thee.
[To Servant]Ventidius lately
Buried his father; by whose death he's stepp'd
925Into a great estate: when he was poor,
Imprison'd and in scarcity of friends,
I clear'd him with five talents: greet him from me;
Bid him suppose some good necessity
Touches his friend, which craves to be remember'd
930With those five talents.
[Exit Servant][To FLAVIUS]That had, give't these fellows
To whom 'tis instant due. Ne'er speak, or think,
935That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can sink.

Flavius. I would I could not think it: that thought is
bounty's foe;
Being free itself, it thinks all others so.